The first thing I do when purchasing a product is to flip it over and read the ingredients list. This applies to food, cleaning or skincare products. If it has ingredients that I can’t pronounce or I don’t know what they are, it doesn’t make it in to my house. This habit was born out of necessity seven years ago, after having a child with a severe life-threatening food allergy. At first, it was a very time consuming adjustment but now it’s second nature and it has honestly changed my life! There is great power in knowing what is in the products that we use everyday. That is why it is so important to me that we list all the ingredients on our products at Puro Co. All of our products are made out of high quality and easy to recognize components. There are never “proprietary blends” or hidden ingredients in any of our products. I want our customers to buy our products while having confidence in the ingredients we’ve used to create them.
Every product we make at Puro Co. is handcrafted with each ingredient being selected for a specific purpose. It could be grape seed oil for its astringent properties, calendula for its anti-inflammatory properties or coconut oil's ability to produce a harder bar of soap with a fluffy and stable lather. Each ingredient that we use is researched and carefully selected to make a superior product for our customers. When purchasing raw ingredients, we strive to get the best possible and highest quality products that we're able to. We use high quality, food grade oils whenever they're available, such as extra virgin olive oil as opposed to commonly used olive pomace in our soaps. Palm oil is an inexpensive base used in many commercial and handmade soaps, as well as in many packaged foods. At Puro Co. we do not use palm oil in any of our products as it's rarely sustainably harvested and responsible for the destruction of the rainforests, the habitats of the orangutans and other rainforest animals. Other ingredients you won't find in our products are preservatives (such as parabens), fillers, artificial colors, fragrances (many of which contain phthalates), and penetration enhancing additives. We use natural and organic high quality plant based oils and as many locally sourced ingredients as possible, including some that we grow and harvest ourselves.
Why are these ingredients so important? When a customer chooses products to use in their skincare routines, it's essential to remember that our skin is not impenetrable. It's our body's largest organ and capable of absorbing the products we put on it. It's just as important to note that not only is it effected by external irritants but internal factors (such as food, stress and hormones) as well. The skin can show physical signs of stress when the body and other organs fail to properly eliminate toxins. This is why it’s imperative you know what you’re putting on your skin and what you're putting in your body.
I challenge everyone to check the ingredients on your skin care products to see what is in them. Packaging and the use of buzz words can often be deceiving. Even some that claim to be natural contain questionable ingredients or list no ingredients at all. Take it a step further and read the ingredients on every item you put in your cart the next time you go to the store and know what you're putting into and onto your body. Feel free to comment below and tell me about your experience with knowing what ingredients are in the products you buy.
References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25216151/?i=2&from=parabens%20toxicity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23528233/?i=2&from=/25216151/related
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17604388/?i=6&from=/23528233/related
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25782087/?i=1&from=sodium%20lauryl%20sulfate%20toothpaste